


Gentle

by Pretending2BeMe



Category: Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Hair Brushing, M/M, Two middle-aged men finally learn to communicate!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 04:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5443226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pretending2BeMe/pseuds/Pretending2BeMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James and Richard finally manage to talk about their feelings - with a little help from a small, plastic hairbrush.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gentle

Richard chanced a sideways look at James, who was sat next to him on the sofa; seemingly engrossed in the crossword. He longed to snuggle up to him, to rest his head in his lap, give him a hug or even just hold his hand. But he didn’t dare; theirs wasn’t that kind of relationship. They didn’t _do_ touching, they didn’t _do_ softness; what they did instead was fuck, and fuck hard. They had only been together a few months but already the pattern had been laid down. The first time it had happened had been during a stupid argument that started with Richard shoving James in the chest and ended with James leaving fingertip bruises on Richard’s arms as they fought and fucked. Ever since then, Richard had bitten and James had scratched and they’d both yanked on each other’s hair as they swore their way to orgasm. But shrouded in the rosy glow of a full stomach and a few bottles of lager, Richard wished for some tenderness.

James shifted in his seat, breaking Richard’s reverie, “Hammond?” he asked without looking up, “I was wondering, is there anything you miss – you know, about being with a woman.”

“Oh, you know I’m useless at cryptic clues; how many letters?” Richard said; distracted.

James rested the newspaper on his knee and looked up, “No, you dipstick; it’s not a clue, it’s a genuine question.”

“Dunno, I’ve never really thought about it,” shrugged Richard, slightly confused. “Boobs, I suppose. Yeah, I miss having a pair of boobs to grab hold of. I know it’s crazy but whenever we fuck, I still reach out for them; it’s alright though, I’ll get used to it eventually.” Richard began to laugh at the mental image of James with a huge pair of silicone-enhanced breasts but as he caught sight of the pensive look on James’ face he instantly stopped, “Why? What do you miss?” he asked quietly, half scared of what the answer was going to be.

Averting his eyes from Richard’s expectant gaze, James moved to the edge of his seat; he knew that his next words were going to bring forth a hale of laughter and he needed to be ready to escape when they came. Feigning interest in the arm of the sofa, he took a deep breath and whispered his answer, “Gentleness.”

“What?” asked Richard, totally thrown by James’ sudden ability to read his mind.

Still not looking up, James elaborated, “You know, hugs and…things.”

“Oh.” Richard ran his hand through his hair and let out a breath.

James’ heart sank; he’d thought about having this conversation and Richard’s reaction to it for the best part of a fortnight but in the dozens of scenarios he’d come up with, this wasn’t one of them. In his head, Richard had at least said _something_. Deciding to save himself, he started to backtrack, “Yeah, _Oh_. Look, don’t worry about it, forget I said anything.” He went to stand up but he was held down by Richard squeezing his forearm.

“Wait,” he began before James cut him off.

“If you’re going to take the piss, don’t bother. I get it ok, you’re not here for all that; it’s just the sex, right?” he spat, more hurt than angry.

“Is that what you really think?” asked Richard, keeping his voice low and even. “Come on, how long have you known me?”

“Long enough to know that you don’t do all that stuff do you? You probably think it’s a bit too girly for you or something.”

Richard shifted forwards until he was level with James and, placing two fingers under his jaw, he nudged James round to face him properly, “You’re wrong James, dead wrong. I think the bloody world of you. I just…I thought you were only interested in… I thought you liked the way we…” Richard sighed and shook his head, “God, we’re useless aren’t we; we can waffle on forever about the merits of the Alfa Romeo but when it comes to the important stuff we can’t string a sentence together.”

James couldn’t help but laugh at the truth of it, “Seems so. Don’t get me wrong, Rich, I love it when you’re rough with me, it’s just…”

“Just not all the time,” finished Richard.

“Exactly.”

In answer, Richard snaked his hand up James’ arm and along his shoulder to nestle at the base of his neck. Pulling forward slightly, he leant in for a long, slow, _gentle_ kiss.

“Hmm…that was nice,” breathed James afterwards.

Richard brushed a strand of hair from James’ face and tucked it behind his ear. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that,” he whispered with a smile. “And in case you were wondering, it’s not too girly for me – none of it is.”

“You’re not a fighty little shit all the time then?” joked James.

Richard laughed and shook his head, “Not all the time, no.”

Suddenly, James went quiet and bit his bottom lip, “What’s up?” Richard asked, concerned at James’ abrupt change in demeanour.

“Nothing, it’s just…well, where do we go from here?” asked James softly.

Again, Richard was confused, “I don’t know what you mean. We’re not trying to split the atom here James; we’ve just decided to stop beating seven bells out of each other and to start being honest about what we want.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Yeah but nothing,” interrupted Richard. Taking hold of both of James’ hands in his he continued, “Stop over-thinking things. This is no different to you telling me a hundred times a day to stop touching your stuff and me telling you a hundred times a day to use smaller words.”

Richard’s familiar humour seemed to relax James and he smiled, “No, no you’re right, I’m just being daft.”

Giving James’ hands a gentle squeeze, Richard stood up, “Bloody right you are. Now, wait there, I’ve got an idea,” he answered with a wink.

Two minutes later, Richard returned to the lounge and, tossing a cushion onto the floor, he motioned for James to sit down.

“What are you doing?” James asked as he slid cautiously from the sofa.

“Well, when I had long hair I loved having it brushed and…” Richard paused as the embarrassment flashed across his face and he gingerly showed James the hairbrush he’d hidden behind his back, “And, I thought you might like it too.”

Looking up, James smiled, “I think I might.”

Positioning himself on the edge of the sofa behind James who was, by now cross-legged on the floor, Richard took a few deep breaths. For reasons that he thought ridiculous, he suddenly felt nervous. What if he did something wrong? What if James didn’t like it? What if his touch freaked him out? What if…what if…what if… “You will tell me if it gets too much, won’t you?”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” James assured softly.

Richard took a moment to run the flat of his hands over James’ hair to get him used to his touch before he tentatively took the brush upwards. Almost straight away, he hit upon a rather large knot that made James yelp. “Shit, sorry,” he said as he flew backwards.

“It’s alright, that’s the downside to driving a convertible for most of the day,” replied James. “If you start from the ends and work your way up, the knots come out easier.”

Richard followed James’ advice and pretty soon the brush was gliding smoothly through James’ hair. Despite his progress, Richard’s stomach still held a flutter of nerves; even through they had been friends for years and just lately, _more_ , touching him in this way somehow felt more intimate than anything they had done previously and he had, through his studious de-knotting worked out that he didn’t have the first idea about what to do. His need for reassurance bothered him but he didn’t know how to voice it so he took a chance and placed his free hand on James’ shoulder and squeezed gently.

James could feel the nerves coming off Richard in waves and in truth, he felt the same. His dislike of touch was well known but in a perverse way he also craved it; loving it but hating it at the same time.  It was a position that he’d held for so long that it had become increasingly hard to move away from but, in that moment as Richard laid his hand on him, he realised that in order to get the closeness he wanted – _needed_ – from Richard he would have to fight though his self-imposed boundaries and so, reaching up, he gripped Richard’s fingers, as much to reassure him as himself.

Feeling James’ warm skin against his own made Richard sigh out a breath that calmed him by a notch, “Alright?” he asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, you’re doing fine,” James answered, keeping his voice low. “Keep going.”

James’ assurances seemed to galvanise Richard slightly and he allowed himself to take control, moving the hairbrush downwards in slow, sure stripes.

As Richard swept the brush over his crown, James felt himself relaxing and being drawn along with each careful streak of the brush. Closing his eyes he allowed himself to sink into the softness of Richard working over him.

With every move of his hand, Richard grew in confidence and pretty soon, he was brushing James’ hair without a second thought. For his part, James had completely forgotten about his long-held aversion and he quickly became caught up in the sensations that Richard was giving him; pleasure coursing through him on every stroke.

Soon enough, the tremor had left Richard’s hand and he let go of James’ shoulder to run his palm over James’ hair as he brushed. The heat that seeped into James’ crown made him dip his head down to his chest and he let go a small moan of pleasure.

That tiny, nondescript sound was exactly what Richard needed. Knowing with absolute certainty that James wasn’t going to freak out, he decided to step up his efforts. Moving the brush to the left, he swept the hair from behind James’ ear diagonally down and over his neck.

The bristles drawing over James’ nape sent tingles exploding over his scalp and down his spine; “Jesus!” he gasped with a shudder that made Richard repeat the move once, twice, three times more before switching sides and doing it all over again.

Surrendering to the vibrations running through him, James’ gasps were soon coming thick and fast and he bit his lip in a futile effort to quieten himself but Richard, mesmerised by the reactions that he was pulling from James, was having none of it and within minutes he had James swaying his head from side, both in encouragement and anticipation of what was to come.

Richard had never seen James so relaxed and so abandoned to the here and now and the realisation that it was because of him made his heart soar. Bringing his left hand back into play, he followed the line of the hairbrush with his fingers to caress the exposed skin of James’ neck.

“Fuck!” breathed James at the unexpected but not unwanted touch.

Leaning forward, Richard whispered in his ear, “It’s ok; trust me, yeah?”

“I do,” James murmured back. “Don’t stop.”

Smiling to himself, Richard continued on. Alternating sides over and over, he repeated the movement of brushing and caressing, each time making James gasp and sway into the motion.

The juxtaposing texture of the cool, plastic bristles and the softness of Richard’s warm fingers made James’ senses swim and he found himself getting hard. Laughing at the ridiculousness of being turned on just by having his hair brushed; James shifted in his seat and stretched out his legs; partly to regain some his usual control and partly to relieve the growing pressure in his groin.

“What’s so funny?” Richard asked; a stab of uncertainty returning.

Turning his head to face Richard, James smiled, “Nothing, it’s just…that felt so good.”

“Oh yeah?” grinned Richard, cottoning on. “How does this feel then?” Scooping James’ hair up, he held it in his hands like a ponytail and ran his tongue up the side of James’ neck, making him whine deep in his throat. Without pause, Richard immediately ran a line of feathery kisses back up the same line to behind James’ ear, “God, James, you are so gorgeous,” he whispered, his hot breath making James shudder once more.

Twisting round onto his knees, James slid his arms round Richard’s neck and claimed his mouth in a long, slow kiss.

In reply, Richard shuffled forwards and wrapped his legs around James’ waist, rocking into him as they kissed. Sliding his hands lightly across James’ shoulders, he ran his fingers into his hair and took two large handfuls; not pulling just _holding_. For long minutes, they stayed like that, tongues gliding together, tasting each other and sharing breathy moans of desire as they finally let their true feelings free.

Eventually, James pulled back; making Richard moan with frustration. “Hold on, Rich; hold on,” he breathed.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just…things got a bit crazy back there for a while didn’t they. I’ve never really been like that with someone before – so, so… I wanted you for so long but I can’t believe that’s how my feelings manifested themselves.

“It’s ok, I did the same, remember,” whispered Richard. “But you’ve shown me how we move forward.”

“I have?”

“Yeah, if you hadn’t spoken up tonight, we would have carried on fucking and punching each other until we tore each other apart and that’s what we need to do - we need to start talking to each other again. That’s what we’ve always done, you and me; we’ve sat and talked about anything and everything, but for some weird reason we’ve never talked about how we really feel about each other.”

“It’s true, I can talk endlessly about all sorts of shit, but saying…telling you…” James’ words trailed off, and lowering his head, he bit his lip to stop himself from saying anything more.

“James, don’t stop now. This is _me,_ you can tell me anything; just say it.”

So many of James’ boundaries had been broken already but this, the final one, was damn near impossible so, instead of coming right out and saying what he wanted, he hedged his bets and said, “I need to know something, Rich; is this what you really want? You and me, I mean. Honestly, for real?”

Richard let out a sigh; this was so much harder than he’d expected but he knew that if he was to truly get what he wanted most in the world he had to plough on. Placing two fingers under James’ chin, just as he had earlier, he nudged him up to face him, “James, from the minute I first set eyes on you, I knew I wanted you and I still do. Right here, right now, I want this more than I want a Zonda sitting on my driveway.” Seeing the smile slowly spread across James’ face was enough for him to continue, to say the words that he’d held in for so long, “If you must know, I bloody love you, James.”

Laughing in pure relief, James smacked a kiss on Richard’s lips, “And I bloody love you too.”

Shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it all, Richard stood up, pulling James with him, “Right, now that’s settled, how about I take you to bed?”

Still smiling, James pulled Richard into a tight hug, “Only if you promise to be gentle with me.”

Richard buried his head into James’ shoulder and murmured, “Always.”

The End.


End file.
